Labour raise budget cuts fears

Government figures just released show a total of £9.5m has been slashed from Wirral Council's budget this year. £5.5m has been cut from the revenue budget and a further £4m from the Capital budget.
In addition, funding for Affordable Housing has been cut and Wirral currently waits to hear the fate of the bids it has in totalling £1.4m, which will presumably not now be met.
An outraged Cllr Steve Foulkes, Leader of Wirral's Labour Opposition said:
"Now we see this government in its true colours. These cuts are heavily targeted at Wirral's most deprived areas, despite protestations from the government that cuts would not affect front line services.
Once again, as expected, the Tories are asking the poor to shoulder the heaviest burden. Shame on their Liberal Democrat partners for being party to this!
A high proportion of the revenue cuts fall on the Area Based Grant, which is nationally targeted at areas with high levels of deprivation.
£3.9m has been cut from Wirral's Area Based Grant, which is 0.9% of total revenue spending. This is the highest reduction in revenue for any English local authority.
Cuts in Area Based Grant on Wirral fall heaviest on Children's Services, which loses £2.6m.A further million is cut from the Working Neighbourhood Fund, which supports programmes to reduce unemployment and help people into work.
We're talking here about cuts in Child Protection, with fewer children's social workers recruited, cuts in specialist help to schools on literacy, numeracy, behavioural problems and a host of other issues, cuts in grants to the Voluntary Sector who work with young people, cuts in organised activities for young people in school holidays, cuts in career advice - the list is endless. Many of the contracts have already been let for this year, which will cause major difficulties.
We're also talking about cuts in help not just for unemployed young people but for unemployed people of all ages and this is on top of the recent axing of the Jobs for the Future fund. At a time when cuts in public sector funding are likely to knock on to other industries as well, causing steep rises in unemployment, this is just rubbing salt into the wound."
END

Note to Editors.
Below is the break down of cuts for Wirral, gleaned from the small print of government announcements. More information will follow as it becomes clearer exactly where the detailed axe will fall.

If the Council does not make cuts in these areas, then equivalent savings will have to be made elsewhere, affecting other Council services.
Break down of cuts.
Area Based Grant.
Childrens Services Area Based Grant £2,643,000
Working Neighbourhood Fund £1,017,000
Supporting People Admin £216,000
Cohesion £180,000
Home Office grants £33,000

Other revenue grants
LABGI grant £200,000 (Local Authority Business Growth Incentives.)
Local Area Agreement Reward Grant £1.4m

Capital Grants.

Intregrated Transport Block £1m.
(Highways, traffic calming, road safety schemes etc.)
Local Area Agreement Capital £1.4m
Housing Market Renewal £1.6m
(This has not been announced in detail, but Wirral's pro rata share of the national cut in the budget would be around £1.6m)